Resident Update - March 2020

In this third addition of our Resident Updates, we discuss the Center for Disease Control's guidance on the Coronavirus, our team's response to the recent pandemic, and some tips on how you and your family can get through a financial crisis or emergency...

Strong Blocks Team Response

Since learning of the seriousness of the virus spread and impact on our community, our team has implemented new ways to do things while awaiting more information from the government and health experts:

• All face-to-face meetings are temporarily suspended and phone calls or "Zoom" calls (https://apps.apple.com/us/developer/zoom/id530594111) will be used instead.
• Maintenance staff will maintain strict precautions and maintain safe distances from your family and each other.
• We will wear gloves in your home if interior entry is needed and wipe down all surfaces we touch with Lysol/Clorox wipes.
• To limit our exposure, maintenance requests will be evaluated case-by-case, and have to be limited to only essential and emergency repairs temporarily. Please contact the maintenance line directly via text (414-395-8550) after you enter your maintenance request online so we can discuss exactly what repairs are essential or an emergency. After the crisis has passed, we look forward to following up and completing all remaining maintenance requests including those determined to be non-essential.
• Direct contact is going to be temporarily avoided (no shaking hands for now, elbows only please).

Center for Disease Control's guidance on the Coronavirus

This past few weeks we've witnessed a once-in-a-lifetime virus pandemic sweep across the world and it's hitting us hard at home now.  While many of us can get the Coronavirus and possibly survive there are a lot of older people and/or folks with pre-existing conditions that are dying at a really high rate from this virus.  Here are some tips from our country's Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for what we all can do during this difficult time:

• Clean your hands often: https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html
• Avoid close contact...recommending you stay at lease 6 feet away from folks if at all possible.
• Stay home if you're sick except to get medical care.
• Cover coughs and sneezes like President Obama showed us how to do it ("into your elbow") in 2009, and our former President also asked Elmo to help show our kids how to sneeze through this video:
• Wear a face mask if you are sick or caring for someone who is sick.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily, and if surfaces are dirty, clean them.

You can see a full list and details of what the CDC recommends here: 
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus

Facing a Financial Emergency? 4 Things You Must Pay First in Your Budget

If you are like some of the hundreds of thousands of people across the country who have been laid off or are facing a lay off soon, the Coronavirus isn't your only fear.  In a financial crisis and/or emergency, you and your family come first.  According to the basic "Four Walls" principal used in the Dave Ramsey system: "you need to make sure your priorities are in the right order.  And those start with a little something we call the Four Walls.  (The four walls of your home have to be protected first.)

If you can’t pay all of your bills and are having a hard time making ends meet, these Four Walls should be what you spend your money on first (and in this order):

1. Food
2. Utilities
3. Shelter
4. Transportation

First things first: food. You want to make sure your family has food in their bellies. Next? Keep the lights on, your water running, and then the roof over your head. And last, make sure you have a way to get to work."

A lot of us will be at home during this difficult time and it's our business to provide shelter for our community of residents (you and your family included).  We especially want to do our best to care for you during this period of Coronavirus Disease across the globe and in our community. If people need access to help to care for any of their Four Walls above, and if they have nowhere else to go for help, we can try to get you connected with the programs out there that may be able to help you and your family like food pantries, energy assistance, unemployment programs, and emergency assistance programs.  Contact Jeanne right away for more information on these "safety net" support programs out there if you need extra help as we look to the government for guidance on other remedies that may come in the future.

Available Properties

Strong Blocks buys, remodels, and offers properties in north side neighborhoods nearby Downtown Milwaukee to local residents. We feature rent to own homes in Milwaukee as part of our 21-month rent to own Milwaukee homeownership program.  However, we also have some traditional rental opportunities from time to time. You can help your friends and family schedule a showing of any of our available properties we have to offer by clicking below, or texting 414-982-3980.  Be sure they name you as the person who referred them so we can qualify you and them for money as part of the Resident Referral Program incentive.